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KRTH playing 2004 music!

Gordon McLendon was not quite eight years old in spring of 1929 but if he had owned a radio station then, he certainly would have refused to play Eddie Cantor's Makin' Whoopee.. And I, for one, never thought---until reading Hal Martin's memo (above)---that "Sock it to me" could be a sexual reference. The phrase was popularized in Respect and Sock It To Me Baby and on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, which managed to get Richard Nixon to do a cameo: "Sock it to me?"
 
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Thomps2525 said:
Eddie Cantor was not quite eight years old in spring of 1929 but if he had owned a radio station then, he certainly would have refused to play Eddie Cantor's Makin' Whoopee..
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Steve, I think you need to hire a proofreader. The way that reads, it sounds like Eddie Cantor, if he had owned a radio station when he was eight years old, would have refused to play his own record.

Even the Big Kahuna, Ron Jacobs, is taking issue with your "meticulous" preparation. I don't know if you've seen his tweet about your July 9 Rewind, but it's not terribly flattering.

Lately, you seem to post just for the sake of posting. Perhaps a little selectivity is called for on your part?
 
I corrected the post. I was writing about Gordon McLendon while I was thinking about Eddie Cantor and I typed the wrong name. I have not seen Ron Jacobs' tweet but he knows how to contact me. And you will be seeing very few posts from me on the two radio message boards in the coming months. Happy?
 
Thomps2525 said:
And you will be seeing very few posts from me on the two radio message boards in the coming months. Happy?
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I don't mind you posting, Steve. I do mind when you run far away from a thread's topic in the process, and the historian in me wants to see you always getting it right.

If you like, I'll forward screenshots of RJ's tweets privately.
 
The last message on Ron's Twitter account is from November of 2013 and none of his messages referred to LARadio.com. Does he have a second account that I don't know about? You can send the screenshots to me or you can post his comments here if you prefer.
 
Thomps2525 said:
Gordon McLendon was not quite eight years old in spring of 1929 but if he had owned a radio station then, he certainly would have refused to play Eddie Cantor's Makin' Whoopee.. And I, for one, never thought---until reading Hal Martin's memo (above)---that "Sock it to me" could be a sexual reference. The phrase was popularized in Respect and Sock It To Me Baby and on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, which managed to get Richard Nixon to do a cameo: "Sock it to me?"
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Keep in mind that Gordon McLendon only "became a prude" when he was running for office in conservative Texas. He was apparently afraid that his opponents would bring up that his radio stations (Dallas, Houston, SA, El Paso) were playing "smutty" records.
 
DavidEduardo said:


Keep in mind that Gordon McLendon only "became a prude" when he was running for office in conservative Texas. He was apparently afraid that his opponents would bring up that his radio stations (Dallas, Houston, SA, El Paso) were playing "smutty" records.
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Are you saying he took the "hypocritic oath"? :)
 
Speaking of censorship, another example: I have heard many stations that edit the HECK out of "Rock Star" Nickelback. The words "drugs", "a--holes", "a--" and "drug dealer" are omitted. It's kind of funny, hearing a blip of blank space literally every 30 seconds in that song.

-crainbebo
 
I appreciate K.M. Richards forwarding Ron Jacobs' tweet to me. I was unaware that Jacobs had changed his Twitter account in 2013. Jacobs called it a "****-up" that I did not mention him and Bill Drake in the July 9 Rewind about KHJ's first published Boss 30 folder. Jacobs noted that there were "scores of off-mike heroes who made the Boss Jocks appear to know what they were doing." He appended a smiley emoticon to that sentence. I named the original Boss Jocks and mentioned three more who joined the station's line-up before 1965 was over. No, I did not mention Jacobs, Drake, the engineers or the news staff. Two years ago I wrote a lengthy story about Jacobs and Drake and I learned that Don Barrett had his reasons for refusing to run it. I knew better than to mention Jacobs in the July 9 Rewind. In other words, Ron, the omission was not a "****-up."
 
Here is the Rewind from April 22:

LARadio Rewind: April 13, 1922. Two days after airing a test broadcast, Charles Kierulff, owner of Motorola radio distributor Kierulff & Co., puts KHJ on the air with 50 watts of power at 833 kHz, broadcasting from the Los Angeles Times building at 1st and Broadway. The hour-long dedicatory broadcast includes the playing of The Star Spangled Banner, a message from Times publisher Harry Chandler, a newscast, a children's story and some musical performances. In November 1922, Kierulff sold KHJ to the Times and power was increased to 500 watts. Cadillac dealer Don Lee, owner of KFRC, purchased KHJ in 1927. Power was raised to 5000 watts in 1940. KHJ broadcast at several different frequencies over the years before finally moving to 930 in 1941. Under the ownership of RKO General, KHJ aired a top-40 format from 1965 to 1980. From 1986 to 1989, the station played oldies as KRTH/am and then became Spanish-language KKHJ. In 2000, the KHJ call letters returned. In 2014, the station became an affiliate of Immaculate Heart Radio. Patrick Madrid hosts the morning show. http://ihradio.com/

And there was no mention of Bill Drake or Ron Jacobs. I've referred to them in some of the stories I've written about KHJ but not in all of them. If it makes you feel any better, Ron, I also didn't mention the Warner brothers every time I wrote about KFWB. "And the beat.....goes on."
 
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In 1971, KHJ-FM was airing Drake-Chenault's "Solid Gold Rock & Roll" format. In 1972, the station switched to live-and-local programming as KRTH. The original Gold format focused on 1955 to 1963 with a few 1954 songs (Gee, Sh-Boom, Rock Around The Clock). Eventually the music covered 1955 through 1969 with a few early '70s songs (Crocodile Rock, Let's Stay Together, Midnight Train To Georgia, My Sweet Lord, The Tears Of A Clown). I believe the first 1980s song to be added to KRTH's playlist, sometiume around 2000, was Tina Turner's What's Love Got To Do With It.

In a 2002 Los Angeles Times article on the occasion of KRTH's 20th anniversary, Jay Coffey expressed a doubt that "'80s music is going to have the same legs as '50s or '60s music." Coffey said. He noted that a few years earlier when KRTH started to play '80s songs, "people said they don't belong on an oldies station." How things have changed!

http://articles.latimes.com/2002/dec/06/entertainment/et-carney6
 
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In a 2007 Los Angeles Times article, program director Jhani Kaye explained why---and how---KRTH can be playing newer music by Phil Collins, Fleetwood Mac and other artists and even Santana's Smooth from 1999: "The audience tells us when it's acceptable to add new music to the playlist. They get to vote a song on or off the air" when music tests are conducted.

http://articles.latimes.com/2007/sep/14/entertainment/et-krth14
 
Thomps2525 said:
In a 2007 Los Angeles Times article, program director Jhani Kaye explained why---and how---KRTH can be playing newer music by Phil Collins, Fleetwood Mac and other artists and even Santana's Smooth from 1999: "The audience tells us when it's acceptable to add new music to the playlist. They get to vote a song on or off the air" when music tests are conducted.

http://articles.latimes.com/2007/sep/14/entertainment/et-krth14
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Gee...that's exactly what we (Big A, David, KM and me) have been saying here since....forever.
 
Yes, but until today when I read that 2007 Times article, I did not think it was acceptable for you, Big A, David and K.M. to add new comments to this discussion. :)

Does anyone know when KRTH's most recent music test was conducted? And is KRTH beginning to test songs from the 1990s and early 2000s?
 
michael hagerty said:
Thomps2525 said:
In a 2007 Los Angeles Times article, program director Jhani Kaye explained why---and how---KRTH can be playing newer music by Phil Collins, Fleetwood Mac and other artists and even Santana's Smooth from 1999: "The audience tells us when it's acceptable to add new music to the playlist. They get to vote a song on or off the air" when music tests are conducted.

http://articles.latimes.com/2007/sep/14/entertainment/et-krth14
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Gee...that's exactly what we (Big A, David, KM and me) have been saying here since....forever.
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Maybe I should have asked John to come on here and explain testing in the first place. It would have been fun to see how many people would have been shown the door by management for telling him that he was wrong.
 
Thomps2525 said:
http://articles.latimes.com/2002/dec/06/entertainment/et-carney6
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Good article RR. Never knew KRTH was automated around 1984. I do remember hearing jocks back then during their specials, but, I was not a KRTH listener prior to 1984. XTRA & KIIS were on my "presets" prior to that I believe.

KRTH has definitely changed over the years. Checking to see if they've added anything else besides "It's My Life", but have not noticed anything of late.

Do you have any KRTH L.A. Times articles from the 80's or 90's?
 
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